July 16, 2009
Three years after the University of New Mexico helped bring indoor track and field back to the city of Albuquerque, USA Track & Field confirmed that the Duke City is indeed one of the premier track and field destinations in America. The national governing body for track and field made a historic announcement on July 14 that the 2010, 2011 and 2012 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held at the Convention Center in downtown Albuquerque, which has served as the Lobos’ home facility indoors since 2006.
The 2010 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships will be the first national level meet held in Albuquerque since 1966, when the meet – then run by the AAU – was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
“This is huge, one of the biggest sports announcements in the history of the state,” said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. “It sends a message that the city and the state are players on the national sports stage.”
The 1966 AAU Indoor Nationals drew a two-day total of nearly 20,000 fans to Tingley Coliseum and was featured on the March 14 cover of Sports Illustrated. |
The USA Championships will be one of seven weekends of track and field competition that will be held at the Convention Center in 2010. Beginning on Jan. 16, New Mexico will host five regular season meets and the Mountain West Conference Championships. Following the USA Championships, Adams State College (Alamosa, Colo.) will use the facility to host the NCAA Division II Championships.
“When you look at what happened in the 1960s and ’70s at Tingley Coliseum and what Matt and Mark Henry, Scott Steffan and councilman Brad Winter all did to get this track here, this announcement is the culmination of many years of hard work,” said UNM head coach Joe Franklin. “Our goal as a staff is to create awareness and name recognition for University of New Mexico track and field and this is one more big step in getting the word out.
“It’s been happening little by little over the past several years, but now it’s going to hit like a firestorm.”